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Java Forum / GUI / December 2007JTable UI from User's point of view.
I was wondering what the consensus is on how a JTable should behave: 1. What does the user to do trigger a cell edit? What does he do to edit the next cell over? 2. what does the user to do delete a row? 3. what does the user do to insert a new row? Does he type it in place or does he type it somewhere else then it jumps into place?  SignatureRoedy Green Canadian Mind Products The Java Glossary http://mindprod.com >I was wondering what the consensus is on how a JTable should behave: It should act like the spreadsheet or platform table he normally uses. The programmer can not know what this spreadsheet or platform is. But often it might be Microsoft® Excel and Microsoft® Windows. So: The application, whenever possible, should offer a »Windows L&F« and The Windows L&F should behave like Microsoft® Excel in this regard. >1. What does the user to do trigger a cell edit? In Excel, a keyboard user would use [F2]. >What does he do to edit the next cell over? I do not know the meaning of »to edit something over«, so I will ignore »over« and answer: |What does he do to edit the next cell? (If he is editing a cell right now: )Terminate the edit mode. Move to the next cell. Activate the edit mode as before. >2. what does the user to do delete a row? Select the row. Issue a delete-row command via a menu. >3. what does the user do to insert a new row? Select a below. Issue a insert-row command via a menu to insert a row above the select row. >Does he type it in place or does he type it somewhere >else then it jumps into place? In Excel, the above can be done via mouse, keyboard, or programmatically, via a macro (in VBA). Supersedes: <UI-20071229054346@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de> >I was wondering what the consensus is on how a JTable should behave: It should act like the spreadsheet or platform table he normally uses. The programmer can not know what this spreadsheet or platform is. But often it might be Microsoft® Excel and Microsoft® Windows. So: The application, whenever possible, should offer a »Windows L&F« and The Windows L&F should behave like Microsoft® Excel in this regard. >1. What does the user to do trigger a cell edit? In Excel, a keyboard user would use [F2]. >What does he do to edit the next cell over? I do not know the meaning of »to edit something over«, so I will ignore »over« and answer: |What does he do to edit the next cell? (If he is editing a cell right now: )Terminate the edit mode. Move to the next cell. Activate the edit mode as before. >2. what does the user to do delete a row? Select the row. Issue a delete-row command via a menu. >3. what does the user do to insert a new row? Select a row. Issue a insert-row command via a menu to insert a row above the select row. >Does he type it in place or does he type it somewhere >else then it jumps into place? In Excel, the above can be done via mouse, keyboard, or programmatically, via a macro (in VBA). >>What does he do to edit the next cell over? > > I do not know the meaning of »to edit something over«, > so I will ignore »over« and answer: Let us say you have just entered the data for A1. The normal thing, is the use would then enter data for B1. You could make him select and hit F2. or your might automatically jump to B1 when the user hits some key to terminate entering data for A1. SignatureRoedy Green Canadian Mind Products The Java Glossary http://mindprod.com >You could make him select and hit F2. or your might automatically jump >to B1 when the user hits some key to terminate entering data for A1. Yes. In Microsoft® Excel, IIRC, this behavior can be configurated via an »Options« dialog to move either - not, - right, - left, - up, or - down. >> You could make him select and hit F2. or your might automatically jump >> to B1 when the user hits some key to terminate entering data for A1. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > - up, or > - down. The default direction is almost always not what I want. When it moves I want "ENTER" to leave me in the same cell, and when it doesn't I want "ENTER" to move me right, for some parts of the sheet, or down, for others. Having the software tell me which direction to move annoys me. Having it obey my choice is satisfying. Having the cursor jump to another cell without letting the user choose to configure the behavior is not good. SignatureLew >>> You could make him select and hit F2. or your might automatically jump >>> to B1 when the user hits some key to terminate entering data for A1. [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Having the cursor jump to another cell without letting the user choose > to configure the behavior is not good. As I recall, in Excel, Tab moves right, enter moves to the next row on the column that you last started typing in. For instance, if you click in cell A5, type, tab, type, tab, type, enter, you will end in cell B5, having typed in A5, A6, and A7. SignatureDaniel Pitts' Tech Blog: <http://virtualinfinity.net/wordpress/> > I was wondering what the consensus is on how a JTable should behave: The first things that popped into my mind were ... > 1. What does the user to do trigger a cell edit? Double click or press F2 > What does he do to edit the next cell over? Tab > 2. what does the user to do delete a row? Click the row's label to select the row then press Del > 3. what does the user do to insert a new row? Er, select a row then press Ins? Select Row, Insert from a menu? > Does he type it in place or does he type it somewhere else then it jumps into place? In place probably. For this last case, as a programmer I find it a lot easier to use the latter approach for database applications where rows represent records in a database table. I find it harder to provide in-place editing, partly because of the issues you raised. For example, when updating a table of say exchange rates, as a user you'd want to enter a number, press *one* key to both move to the same column of the next row *and* start editing. I think this may be hard to do with JTable, especially when overriding the default cell editor with some other Swing widget. I guess that it may depend on whether you want to give the user the illusion that the backing data store is being directly updated as they type or whether you want them to be aware of a row (record) as a unit of update. Free MagazinesGet these publications absolutely FREE for up to 12 months. 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